First Attempt at Pearls on Chain

So, not to long ago I was asking about jewelry soldering and got some great responses...and though I probably chose the worst material to start off with...0.8mm wide 18KT gold box chains...I was successful without too much trouble (though I did melt almost an inch of chain on my first soldering attempt).

Anyways, I had a customer request that I create a higher quality version of two necklaces sold by Shecy...and here's what they ended up looking like.

First necklace is 16 inch, 0.8mm wide 18K yellow gold box chain with 5 x 7-7.5mm Akoya pearls and 4 x 3mm 18K yellow gold beads. I used loose grade Akoya's and I did have to drill 1.13mm holes in each in order to thread the chain through them.

Second necklace is also a 16 inch, 0.8mm wide 18K yellow gold box chain with 2 x 7-7.5mm Akoya pearls and 1 x 4mm 18K yellow gold beads. I also had to half drill the Akoya's with 1.13mm holes.

Special thanks to Wendy for the soldering video...it was invaluable. And special thanks to Jeremy for warning me about how difficult drilling Akoya's could be...it prevented me from destroying these little beauties.

no - I like my camera - because the necklaces are on a bust, I used two reflectors to get rid of as much shadow as possible for these quick pics - I know it means the luster isn't visible at all, but for these pics, I wasn't worried about that - I just wanted to be able to shoot the final pieces. I'll work on producing cleaner images later.

Great work Morphius..
I have just been playing around with pearls on chain these last couple of days myself. The top necklace is 8 Chinese fresh water stacked petal pearls, middle necklace is the same with a Tahitian circle pearl in the middle and the bottom necklace is Tahitian keshi on 14K chain.
I plan to do more of these .. I like the oxidized chain for how it makes the pearls really pronounced.
Serendipitous to see this thread today!
Cheers, Sarah

I am officially in love with these designs. A question to the experts: Do you have any sense as to whether the pearls sliding on the chain could cause damage to the pearl? Is it likely that the chain would wear through the pearl eventually?

Well done. Clever doing the soldering yourself. Wendy can you direct me to the soldering video. Barry has done some soldering but he doesn't feel confident about it and I haven't done any and really need to. There are so many little jobs that jewellers want a fortune to do.

Any ideas on the best place to buy all the necessary bits and pieces would help too. Prices here in Australia are too expensive so I need to buy from overseas.